Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently quit from international cricket, has sparked a debate by his recent statement that Hindi is "not our national language but an official language."
He made the comment at the graduation ceremony of a private engineering college in Tamil Nadu.
During the event, Ashwin asked the students if they wanted to ask questions in Tamil, English or Hindi and after asking whether there are any questions in Hindi the former cricketer quipped: "I thought I should say this: Hindi is not our national language; it is an official language."
The BJP and the saffron party's supporters have slammed Ashwin's comments.
"Why should ashwin talk like this.i don't like this.let him remain as cricketer. I am his fan.More the languages u learn it's good.there are translations available for any language immediately in our phone.whats the problem.leave the language issue to people," a user Saraaswathi Subramanian posted on platform X.
On the other hand many supported Ashwin's comment.
"Hindi is not the national language, it is the official language," affirmed one Zachariah George on platform X.
"Hindi is one of the official language of India, not the sole national language. India is a multilingual nation with diverse cultures and languages, all equally important. Imposing one language undermines the diversity. Unity lies in respecting all languages and identities," said an X user Asif Khan.
The DMK has welcomed Ashwin's comment.
"How can Hindi be a national language when many states speak different languages?", DMK's TKS Elangovan questioned.